These days there is a lot of media hype in as far as which smartphone is sexiest and the proliferation of social media and its impact on businesses, individuals and where it will lead the future of communications. However, coming into sharper this focus is faster networks and the imminent coming of 4G.

 

According to a Wall Street Journal article on Thursday, a lot of attention "in the cellphone arena is focused on the battle between sexy super-smartphones like Apple's (News - Alert) new iPhone 4 or the latest models based on Google's Android software."

 

But as the article rightly points out, there is a similar battle going on among U.S. wireless carriers to roll out new, faster data networks "to link such sophisticated hand-held computers to the Internet at greater speeds, and to increase the capacity to handle all the data their owners are downloading."

 

The success of next generation networks will also be critical to the future of smartphones, tablets such as the iPad and its forthcoming competitors, as well as laptops run over cellular networks as mobility becomes a driver of next generation communications, the WSJ reported.

 

Although the network competition is perhaps not as sexy as the smartphone battle flashy, and it involves complex engineering. It is a crucial component to the future of these "super-smartphones," tablets like the iPad, as well as laptops running on cellular networks as mobility continues to be a main driver of communications.

 

Two-thousand and ten was predicted to be and is the year when most of the industry will transition from third-generation networks, to 4G networks. "This will take several years and billions of dollars, and will be turned on city by city,"according to the Journal.

 

Sprint this week unveiled the new 4G-capable handset from Sprint, Samsung (News - Alert) Epic 4G - Samsung's first Android powered mobile. Officials with Sprint have commented that Sprint has taken another leap forward by introducing its second 4G-capable smartphone.

 

"Two U.S. carriers, T-Mobile and AT&T, will be deploying a souped-up interim 3G system, the aforementioned HSPA+ (the faster version of a common system called HSPA, formally known as High Speed Packet Access)," the WSJ article said.

 

Early deployments are popping up in the U.S., with U.S. telecom firm Clearwire announcing it has rolled out its super fast 4G wireless broadband service in Richmond, announcing that now anyone in the area can use the internet at speeds four times faster than 3G.

 

Its 4G service, nicknamed as CLEAR, covers more than 350 square miles and more than 530,000 people in the Richmond metro area, enabling people to access high speed internet wherever they want -- whether at home, in the office, or on the go.

 

The two largest U.S. wireless carriers, Verizon and AT&T, are planning 4G networks based on a technology called LTE (News - Alert), or Long Term Evolution.

 

According to the Journal, neither has commercially deployed LTE networks in any metro area yet, however Verizon is pledging to roll it out in up to 30 metro areas by the end of this year.

 

In addition, "AT&T (News - Alert) plans to deploy LTE in an unspecified number of cities starting in 2011, and HSPA+ in an unspecified number of cities starting late this year. T-Mobile, the smallest U.S. carrier, hasn't unveiled any LTE plans, and is instead doubling down on HSPA+," the WSJ said.